Another View: Is a Louisiana minimum wage law redundant?

Illustration/File/The Times

The following editorial appeared recently in The Advertiser in Lafayette.

Louisiana is one of only five U.S. states that do not have a state minimum wage law, according to statistics recently published by the National Conference of State Legislators.

The others are Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina.

But since there is a federal law that regulates how much - or more precisely, how little - most employees in the United States can be paid, it really doesn't matter - or does it?

We think it does.

With a federally-mandated minimum wage set at $7.25 an hour, a state minimum wage seems redundant.

But there are people in this country who believe there should be no federal minimum wage law. And if ever they are able to convince Congress to do away with the law, it would leave workers in those five states without a minimum standard. That's according to Jeanne Mejeur of the NCSL in Colorado.

Most states set their minimum wage at the same level as the federal rate, but a few set it higher. And four states have set it lower.

The idea of having a minimum wage in this country was not a popular one in the early 20th century. Although a few states did set minimum standards for pay, incredibly, the Supreme Court ruled that minimum wage laws and laws banning child labor, now considered a moral imperative, were unconstitutional.

After a hard-fought battle, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law in 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set the minimum wage at 25 cents an hour - that's $11 a week - and abolished child labor amid an outcry from employers across the country.

But that couldn't happen today, right? Maybe. Georgia's state minimum wage is $5.15 an hour. And even today, there are exceptions to the federal minimum wage, including for those who make a portion of their income from tips.

There is resistance in Louisiana to a state minimum wage law - to the point that the state Legislature has prevented parishes and municipalities from passing their own minimum pay scale. They say it's bad for business.

But that was the battle cry of those who opposed the 25-cent an hour minimum. And this comes at a time when pay inequality is a growing concern in some quarters.

Granted, minimum wage jobs are, for the most part, entry level jobs. And a lot of minimum wage workers are teenagers.

But many are also certified nursing assistants, child care workers, emergency medical technicians, better known as EMTs, and in small communities, some are police officers and firefighters.

Louisiana should have a minimum wage law of its own. It would provide a backup plan, just in case - although it's unlikely - the federal law should be done away with. And on a symbolical level, it would show that the state cares about the men and women who do the work that keeps businesses thriving.

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Another View: Is a Louisiana minimum wage law redundant?

Louisiana is one of only five U.S. states that do not have a state minimum wage law, according to statistics recently published by the National Conference of State Legislators. The others are

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